Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday that Syria's continued support of extremists and ties to Iran proved that its offers of peace talks with Israel were meaningless, Israeli daily Ha'artez reported on its website.

Olmert said at a meeting with Israeli ambassadors to Europe in his Jerusalem office that though Israel is interested in peace with Syria, it did not see any substance in the Syrian offers of peace talks.

Olmert noted that the international community insists that the Palestinian government must renounce terrorism and fight it, which is a condition for opening negotiations with the government, and this is also Israel's principle when it comes to Syria, said the report.

Recently, Syrian President Bashar Assad has offered to restart peace talks with Israel in different forms, but the offers had been rejected by Olmert repeatedly.

Source: Xinhua